Tag Archives: psychology

I had to post this. It is great seeing other psychologists getting to exhibit their craft in video games in a positive way. I think more and more game dev teams will start hiring psychologists not only for player modeling, but for design expertise as well.

So I finally have part 1 of my dissertation study on Player Profiles, the online adult survey, ready to go. If you wish to participate and help me out, please go to the link below. It takes about 15-20 minutes and there are no risks associated with participation.

I came across this and I just have to share. I have to applaud developers that take extra steps to understand their players and have the game play adjust accordingly. I have never played Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, but apparently the mechanics for assessing and adapting to player psychology was successful.

My dissertation is all about gaining a greater understanding of players through psychology and I will hopefully post more details soon. Overall, I think this is a good direction for games to go in (not in the exploitative Farmville way, but in the customization/enhance experience way.)

I have seen other attempts at linking personality and player types. Bateman and Boon’s (2005) 21st Century Game Design is a good source on using Myer-Briggs typologies. I personally have tried using the Big Five, like the developer in the video, and had mixed results. I have come to think that we have to look at more than just personality to really understand players, but it is fascinating to see practical and successful use of personality types in game development.

Better Game Characters by Design: A Psychological Approach is authored by Katherine Isbister, who is now at NYU Poly. I have to admit that my review is somewhat bias because this book combines my two academic passions: psychology and video games. Essentially, the book is taking a lot of the theories and perspectives on inter-personal relationships and social interactions from social psychology and applies it to the design and implementation of video game characters. The book is smart and insightful, making even some of the more complex social psychology theories easy to understand and use. I would consider this a must own book for anyone interested in characterization and how to elicit more out of players. I knew most of the theories already, but how they are integrated with game design is nothing short of great.